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gspam1
03-27-2019, 12:28 AM
Bought a Scion IQ to restore, and I'll need to replace the clear plastic cover for the speedometer and tachometer gauges which was damaged by the previous owner. Any benefit to coating the new clear plastic cover before I install it? I have Meguiar's Headlight Protectant and Gyeon CanCoat on hand. UV protection will be less of an issue than scratch resistance in this application. If a coating will yellow after a few years, then I won't do it.

Calendyr
03-27-2019, 09:49 AM
I see no real advantage to coating them. This is a part of the car that is not exposed to UV light, something you pretty much never touch and a part that doesn't really get dirty.

I don't think there are counter indications for doing it, not sure about the coloring... coatings makes paint get deeper and darker, but I am not sure how it affects it colorwise.

DBAILEY
03-27-2019, 12:58 PM
I used Carpro Essence primer then Essence Plus on the swirled gauge cluster cover on my Nissan Frontier. I used these 2 to hopefully fill in the swirling as much possible. It did a really good job. Not perfect but the swirls don't bother me as much. It has been 3 years and it still looks fine. No weird chemical reaction to make the clear plastic cloudy or anything like that.

The Guz
03-27-2019, 01:05 PM
I coated mine with some left over opti-lens just for the heck of it. No drawbacks doing it and no gains by doing that.